The present invention relates to container holders for vehicles and particularly to a container holder storage system.
Numerous devices have been designed to hold containers such as cups, mugs, pop cans, glasses, and the like in vehicles. Many of these devices are adapted to move between a use position and an out-of-the-way storage position in a console or armrest so that they can be used only when desired and do not unnecessarily take up valuable space. Often they are stored in a center armrest between front passenger seats. However, not all vehicles have an armrest between the front passenger seats, nor does such a location always provide optimum placement of the container holder.
Some container holders that can be movably stored have been designed for attachment to the instrument panel of a vehicle, such as illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,606,112 to Cheshier and U.S. Pat. No. 4,738,423 to DiFilippo. However, these cupholders require A horizontal opening extending into or below the instrument panel of the vehicle. The space necessary for such a horizontal opening may not be available at the desired height, given the compact design and mounting of a large number of components in modern instrument panels. Further, such horizontally extending openings are expensive to add to instrument panels since they cannot be easily retrofitted.
Thus, a container holder that optimizes use of vehicular space, container placement, ease of operation, and ease of installation including retrofitting is desired.